Crunching on creepy crawlies may solve pest plague

Thai authorities are urging villagers to embrace a novel approach to ending an insect pestilence ravishing their farmland: eat the little blighters.

The chief of a district in Kanchanaburi province, where the so-called rot-eating grub has destroyed more than 60 per cent of crops, says farmers need a new tactic as insecticide has proved ineffective and some farmers have turned to using hazardous chemicals, the Bangkok Post has reported.

District chief Pipat Kankharirk says that with the pests having already destroyed more than 1,600 hectares of farmland, a healthier and more effective pest control strategy would not be too hard a pill to swallow.

"Eating them is the best way to cut the insect's life cycle," Mr Pipat was quoted as saying.

"This tactic would work if we do it simultaneously across the district," he said, adding that local authorities should fund efforts to buy, fry and then sell the bugs.